THE PURPOSE BEHIND OUR INGREDIENTS
Why did we choose these ingredients?
There’s a reason behind what goes into LesssGooo!
Our smoothies bring together a diverse combination of wholefoods and carefully selected functional ingredients. Each ingredient has been chosen for a purpose — whether for its nutritional profile, the nutrients it naturally provides, its traditional use, or areas in which it has been explored through scientific research.
Some ingredients are nutritional powerhouses. Some contain fascinating plant compounds. Some have been eaten for thousands of years. Others are now being investigated by modern science in ways our ancestors could never have measured.
Below, we take a closer look at some of that research and explain what interested us about each ingredient when developing the LesssGooo! formulations.
This is the research and thinking behind the ingredients we chose.
The research discussed relates to individual ingredients, nutrients or compounds studied independently and should not be interpreted as evidence that the LesssGooo! smoothie itself produces the same effects.
Spinach
Spinach might look simple, but nutritionally there is a lot packed into those leaves.
What’s inside? Spinach provides vitamin K, folate and carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin, alongside minerals and naturally occurring nitrate. Green leafy vegetables are particularly interesting to researchers because they deliver several nutrients and plant compounds at the same time.
Traditional use: Spinach has been eaten as a leafy vegetable for centuries across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. It’s the classic example of food being used for nourishment long before anyone could isolate the individual vitamins inside it.
Modern science: Dietary nitrate can be converted by the body into nitric oxide, a signalling molecule involved in blood-vessel function and circulation. Lutein and zeaxanthin are also widely researched because they concentrate in tissues of the eye.
Why we chose it: Instead of telling people to “eat more greens”, we wanted greens physically inside the bottle.
Multi-Magnesium
Magnesium isn't just associated with muscle cramps. It is an essential mineral involved in hundreds of biochemical reactions.
What’s inside? Magnesium itself is the key nutrient. The body uses it in energy metabolism, muscle contraction and relaxation, nerve transmission, protein production and many enzyme systems.
An easy way to picture magnesium is as part of the body's behind-the-scenes electrical and mechanical support crew.
Traditional and Western use: Magnesium-rich mineral waters and magnesium salts have a long medical history, while modern nutrition recognises magnesium as an essential dietary mineral.
Modern science: Researchers continue to investigate magnesium status in relation to muscle function, exercise, cardiovascular physiology, metabolism and nervous-system function.
Why we chose it: So many normal body processes depend on magnesium that we saw it as part of the foundation rather than a trendy add-on.
Collagen Peptides
Collagen is essentially part of the body's structural framework.
What’s inside? Collagen protein is particularly rich in the amino acids glycine, proline and hydroxyproline. Together, those amino acids make up a large proportion of collagen's structure.
Think of collagen as part of the body's scaffolding — found throughout skin, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, connective tissue and bone.
Traditional use: Humans have eaten collagen-rich foods for generations through slow-cooked meats, skin, connective tissue, broths and stocks.
Modern science: Western research has become increasingly interested in what happens after hydrolysed collagen is digested and its characteristic amino acids and peptides become available to the body.
Why we chose it: Fruits and vegetables provide one kind of nutrition. Collagen brings a completely different protein and amino-acid profile into the formulation.
Green Apple
An apple is a good example of why we don't like reducing food down to one vitamin.
What’s inside? Apples provide fibre and naturally occurring polyphenols. Researchers have identified compounds including quercetin, catechins, chlorogenic acid and phloridzin, although the amount varies between varieties and different parts of the fruit.
Traditional use: Apples have been part of European, Middle Eastern and Asian diets for thousands of years — both fresh and preserved.
Modern science: Researchers are particularly interested in the interaction between apple fibre, polyphenols, digestion, the gut microbiome, glucose metabolism and cardiovascular markers.
Why we chose it: Fibre, plant compounds, flavour and freshness from a familiar wholefood.
Beetroot
The deep colour of beetroot tells you immediately that something interesting is going on chemically.
What’s inside? Beetroot provides fibre and micronutrients while also containing two particularly interesting groups of compounds: dietary nitrate and betalain pigments.
Traditional use: Beet has a long food history across Europe and the Mediterranean, with roots and leaves both consumed.
Modern science: Nitrate is interesting because the body can convert it through the nitrate → nitrite → nitric oxide pathway. Nitric oxide plays a role in blood-vessel relaxation, circulation and exercise physiology. Betalains are the colourful pigments that have attracted research into antioxidant and cellular processes.
Why we chose it: Nutrition, colour and one of the most interesting naturally occurring nitrate sources in the plant world.
Cacao
Before cacao becomes chocolate, it starts as an incredibly interesting plant food.
What’s inside? Unsweetened cacao contains minerals and is particularly known for flavanols, along with compounds such as theobromine.
Traditional use: Cacao has a long history among Mesoamerican cultures, where cacao beverages had nutritional, cultural and ceremonial importance.
Modern science: Western researchers have spent decades looking at cacao flavanols and how they interact with nitric-oxide signalling, blood-vessel function, oxidative processes and the brain. Research on cocoa and dark chocolate continues to investigate inflammation and oxidative status.
Why we chose it: Mineral content, flavanols and rich flavour — without needing to turn the smoothie into a chocolate dessert.
Hemp Seeds
Hemp seeds are tiny, but nutritionally they're impressive.
What’s inside? Hemp seeds contain plant protein, dietary fibre, essential fatty acids and micronutrients. Their fats include both omega-6 and the plant omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid, while the seed protein provides all essential amino acids.
Traditional use: Hemp has been cultivated for thousands of years for fibre, seed and food across Asia and Europe.
Modern science: Researchers are increasingly interested in hemp as a sustainable source of plant protein, essential fats and bioactive compounds.
Why we chose it: One small ingredient gives us plant protein, healthy fats and another completely different nutritional source.
Chia Seeds
Put chia into liquid and you can literally watch one of its nutritional characteristics appear.
What’s inside? Chia is particularly rich in dietary fibre and alpha-linolenic acid — a plant omega-3 fatty acid — while also supplying protein and minerals including calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.
The gel chia forms around itself comes largely from its soluble fibre.
Traditional use: Chia was valued as a food by Mesoamerican cultures including the Aztecs and Maya long before it became a modern “superfood”.
Modern science: Researchers study chia's fibre, fatty acids, protein and polyphenols in relation to digestion, satiety and metabolic health.
Why we chose it: Fibre, plant fats, protein and texture packed into a tiny seed.
Chlorella
Chlorella is one of the most concentrated green ingredients in the formulation.
What’s inside? Chlorella is a single-celled freshwater microalga containing protein, pigments including chlorophyll and carotenoids, fatty acids and a broad range of micronutrients whose concentrations depend on how it is grown and processed.
Traditional use: Unlike many herbs on this page, chlorella isn't here because of ancient herbal medicine. Its rise largely came through modern nutrition and food science.
Modern science: Researchers study chlorella as a nutrient-dense functional food, including its carotenoids, chlorophyll compounds, nutritional bioavailability and interaction with gut bacteria.
Why we chose it: It gives us a concentrated green food from an entirely different biological source — microalgae.
Vital All-In-One
Vital All-In-One is different because it is already a multi-ingredient nutritional formulation.
What’s inside? The current formula contains 78 ingredients, including greens, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, prebiotics, digestive enzymes, plant ingredients and protein.
So instead of looking at it as one “super ingredient”, think of it as another layer of nutritional diversity.
Modern nutrition: The concept behind multi-nutrient formulations is not that every ingredient works like a pharmaceutical dose. It is about bringing together numerous nutritional components in a convenient format.
Why we chose it: It widens the nutritional net even further.
Banana
There is a good reason bananas became synonymous with sport.
What’s inside? Banana provides easily digested carbohydrate, potassium, vitamin B6 and fibre. Less-ripe bananas also contain considerably more resistant starch, which changes as the fruit ripens.
Traditional use: Banana has been an important staple across tropical regions for thousands of years.
Modern science: Researchers study bananas as a source of carbohydrate for exercise and also investigate resistant starch because, unlike ordinary rapidly digested starch, part of it can reach the large intestine.
Why we chose it: Natural carbohydrate, potassium, texture and sweetness in one familiar wholefood.
Avocado
Technically a fruit — nutritionally very different from most fruit.
What’s inside? Avocado contains fibre and is particularly rich in monounsaturated fat, alongside potassium, folate, vitamin E and carotenoids. Its fat also helps distinguish it from the predominantly carbohydrate-based fruits around it.
Traditional use: Avocado has been cultivated and eaten in Central and South America for thousands of years.
Modern science: Researchers study avocado's fatty-acid profile, fibre and carotenoids, including how dietary fat influences the absorption of fat-soluble plant compounds.
Why we chose it: Healthy fats, fibre and creaminess — without needing cream.
Mango
Mango gives us much more than sweetness.
What’s inside? Mango contains vitamin C, carotenoids, fibre and numerous polyphenols. Its yellow-orange colour is partly produced by carotenoid pigments.
Traditional use: Mango has been cultivated in South Asia for thousands of years and has significance in food traditions and traditional systems such as Ayurveda.
Modern science: Researchers study compounds from different parts of the mango — pulp, peel, seed and leaves — because their phytochemical profiles differ considerably.
Why we chose it: Natural flavour and carbohydrate together with vitamin C, carotenoids and plant diversity.
Açaí
Açaí became famous as a “superfood”, but the chemistry behind its colour is what really interested us.
What’s inside? Açaí pulp contains polyphenols, particularly the dark-purple anthocyanin pigments, along with fibre and a distinctive fatty-acid profile.
Traditional use: Açaí has long been consumed as a staple food in parts of the Amazon, traditionally eaten very differently from the sweetened “açaí bowls” popular today.
Modern science: Its anthocyanins and wider polyphenol profile have attracted research into antioxidant chemistry, vascular biology and cellular signalling.
Why we chose it: Deeply pigmented plant compounds from another completely different fruit source.
Passionfruit
Passionfruit has interesting chemistry hiding in both its pulp and seeds.
What’s inside? Passionfruit provides fibre and contains vitamin C, carotenoids and polyphenols. The seeds have attracted particular attention because they contain piceatannol, a polyphenol related structurally to resveratrol.
Traditional use: Passiflora species have a long history of food and traditional botanical use across the Americas.
Modern science: Researchers study passionfruit pulp, peel and seeds separately because each contains a different mix of compounds.
Why we chose it: Flavour plus plant compounds that aren't replicated by the other fruits in the bottle.
Almond Meal
Grinding an almond into meal doesn't suddenly remove what made the nut nutritious.
What’s inside? Almonds provide plant protein, fibre, monounsaturated fats, vitamin E, minerals and a variety of polyphenols and phytosterols.
Traditional use: Almonds have been part of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food cultures for thousands of years.
Modern science: Western nutrition research has investigated almonds extensively because one food provides protein, fibre, unsaturated fat and vitamin E together.
Why we chose it: It brings the nutritional characteristics of nuts into a formulation otherwise dominated by fruits and greens.
Natural Coconut Yoghurt
Coconut yoghurt gives us both coconut nutrition and fermentation.
What’s inside? Coconut yoghurt generally provides coconut-derived fats and, depending on the cultures used and whether they remain alive through storage, may also contain live microorganisms. A fermented food is not automatically a clinically validated “probiotic” — the exact bacterial strains and amounts matter.
Traditional use: Fermentation has been used across cultures for thousands of years to preserve food and change its flavour, texture and digestibility.
Modern science: Today researchers are increasingly interested in fermented plant foods and how different microorganisms interact with food and the gut.
Why we chose it: Fermentation, texture and another food category in one ingredient.
Coconut Water
Coconut water is basically the coconut's natural liquid reservoir.
What’s inside? It contains water, naturally occurring carbohydrate and electrolytes including potassium, sodium and magnesium, as well as small amounts of amino acids and other plant compounds.
Traditional use: Fresh coconut water has long been consumed as a drink throughout tropical regions.
Modern science: Its electrolyte composition has led researchers to compare coconut water with conventional rehydration beverages. More recently, researchers have even investigated it in areas such as gastrointestinal health.
Why we chose it: It makes far more sense to us as a smoothie liquid base than simply adding water.
Coconut Milk
Coconut milk is nutritionally very different from coconut water.
What’s inside? It is made from coconut flesh and therefore provides substantially more dietary fat, including saturated fatty acids such as lauric acid.
Traditional use: Coconut milk is a foundational ingredient across Pacific, Southeast Asian, South Asian and Caribbean cooking.
Modern science: Researchers study coconut-derived fatty acids separately because individual fatty acids can behave differently biologically. Lauric acid itself has been investigated extensively in laboratory and biomedical research.
Why we chose it: Dietary fat, energy and creaminess while maintaining the coconut-based liquid foundation.
Noni Juice
For us, noni has another layer of significance because its history is deeply connected with the Pacific.
What’s inside? Noni contains numerous phytochemicals including iridoids, phenolic compounds and other secondary plant metabolites. Its exact composition depends on the fruit and how the juice is processed.
Traditional use: Pacific Island cultures have used different parts of the noni plant for centuries within traditional food and medicinal practices.
Modern science: Western researchers are now investigating many of those same traditional uses at the level of individual compounds, oxidative processes, metabolism and cellular signalling.
Why we chose it: It connects traditional Pacific knowledge with modern ingredient research — and brings a completely different plant profile into the formulation.
Sea Moss
Sea moss is another ingredient where the real science is actually more interesting than the internet hype.
What’s inside? Sea moss is a red seaweed. Edible seaweeds can contain substantial amounts of minerals, alongside polysaccharide fibres and other marine compounds. Iodine is particularly important, although its concentration can vary enormously depending on species, location and processing.
You may have seen the claim that sea moss contains “92 of the 102 minerals the human body needs”. We could not find a credible scientific foundation for those exact numbers — and we don't need them.
Traditional use: Irish moss and other edible seaweeds have long histories as foods, thickeners and traditional preparations in coastal communities.
Modern science: Seaweed is now heavily researched for its minerals, iodine, marine polysaccharides and potential interactions with the gut microbiome.
Why we chose it: The ocean produces nutritional compounds that terrestrial fruits and vegetables simply don't.
WHY SO MANY INGREDIENTS?
Because nutrition doesn't come from one “miracle” ingredient.
Fruit gives us something different from seeds.
Seeds give us something different from greens.
Greens give us something different from nuts, fermented foods, collagen, algae, seaweed and dietary fats.
That's the point.
We didn't build LesssGooo! around one fashionable superfood. We deliberately brought together ingredients from different nutritional families to create diversity inside one bottle.
We do the digging. We break it down. You decide what you think.
VITALY-TEA — TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE MEETS MODERN SCIENCE
There is a story behind every ingredient in Vitaly-Tea.
Some have been used for thousands of years in Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Indigenous medicine or European herbal traditions.
Others contain compounds that modern laboratories can now identify, isolate and study in ways that weren't possible when those traditional practices began.
We find that crossover fascinating.
So rather than simply saying “this herb is good for you”, we've looked at what is actually inside it, how it was traditionally used, and what modern Western science is now investigating.
Manuka Honey
Manuka honey is much more chemically complex than simply sugar and water.
What's inside? Like other honeys it provides natural sugars alongside enzymes, organic acids and plant-derived polyphenols. Manuka honey is unusual because of compounds including methylglyoxal — MGO — and leptosperin.
Traditional knowledge: Honey has a long history in food and healing traditions around the world. The mānuka plant itself also has an important history of traditional Māori use; Manuka honey as we know it developed later following the introduction of European honey bees.
Modern Western research: MGO and Manuka's wider mixture of phenolic compounds have made it particularly interesting to researchers studying antimicrobial activity and wound-care applications.
Why we chose it: Natural sweetness with a plant chemistry completely different from refined sugar.
Lemon
Sometimes the most familiar ingredients deserve another look.
What's inside? Lemon provides vitamin C, citrate and citrus flavonoids, alongside aromatic compounds concentrated in the peel.
Vitamin C isn't simply an “immune vitamin”. It is involved in collagen synthesis, antioxidant protection and normal immune-cell function, among other processes.
Traditional use: Lemon has centuries of culinary and household use across Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and later Western traditions.
Modern science: Researchers study citrus flavonoids, vitamin C, citrate and the effects of acidity on digestion and food chemistry.
Why we chose it: Freshness, acidity, vitamin C and a natural partner for the herbs and spices around it.
Ginger
Ginger is one of the best examples of traditional medicine and modern Western research meeting in the middle.
What's inside? Its distinctive heat comes from compounds including gingerols. Drying and heating ginger changes some of these compounds into others, including shogaols.
Traditional knowledge: Ginger has been used for centuries across Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine and other Asian healing traditions, particularly around digestion, nausea, warming the body and respiratory complaints.
Modern Western research: Ginger is now extensively investigated for gastrointestinal motility, nausea, inflammatory signalling and oxidative processes.
Why we chose it: Strong traditional history, strong flavour and one of the richer modern research stories among everyday spices.
Pineapple
Pineapple gives the tea both nutrients and something unusual — enzymes.
What's inside? Pineapple contains vitamin C, manganese, fibre and numerous plant compounds. It is also the natural source of the proteolytic enzyme complex known as bromelain.
Traditional use: Pineapple has a long food history in tropical America and later throughout tropical regions around the world.
Modern Western research: Bromelain has been isolated and investigated separately for decades because proteolytic enzymes can break down proteins and interact with several biological pathways. Much of the therapeutic research uses concentrated bromelain rather than ordinary pineapple fruit.
Why we chose it: Vitamin C, fruit flavour and a genuinely unusual natural enzyme profile.
Clove
A tiny dried flower bud with incredibly concentrated chemistry.
What's inside? Clove is particularly rich in volatile oils, with eugenol being its dominant aromatic compound. It also contains flavonoids and tannins.
Traditional knowledge: Clove has a long history in Asian medicine and spice traditions, including uses related to digestion, the mouth and tooth discomfort.
Western medicine: Eugenol became so interesting scientifically that it has a long history in dentistry and dental materials. Modern researchers also investigate its antimicrobial, antioxidant and inflammatory pathways.
Why we chose it: Very little clove is needed to introduce a powerful and completely different family of plant compounds.
Cumin
Cumin is another kitchen spice with a surprisingly deep medicinal history.
What's inside? Cumin contains volatile oils and numerous phytochemicals including flavonoids and terpenes. One of its most characteristic compounds is cuminaldehyde.
Traditional knowledge: Cumin has been used throughout Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Indian and Asian food and traditional medicine systems, particularly around digestion.
Modern Western research: Scientists have investigated cumin and its individual compounds across antioxidant chemistry, digestive biology, glucose metabolism and antimicrobial models — with much more clinical work still needed.
Why we chose it: We wanted ingredients that have centuries of practical use behind them as well as modern research questions still being explored.
Mullein
Mullein is probably unfamiliar to many people — but not to traditional herbal medicine.
What's inside? Mullein contains flavonoids, saponins, iridoids, phenylethanoid glycosides and other plant compounds, with studies also identifying vitamin C and minerals in the plant.
Traditional knowledge: Mullein has a particularly long history in European herbal traditions involving the throat, lungs and respiratory system.
Modern Western research: Scientists have investigated mullein extracts for antimicrobial, inflammatory and antioxidant activity, although much of this research remains laboratory or preclinical rather than large human trials.
Why we chose it: It brings a very old herbal tradition into a formula alongside ingredients that are much more familiar.
Paw Paw — Papaya
Papaya is another fruit where the enzymes are as interesting as the vitamins.
What's inside? Papaya provides vitamin C, carotenoids, folate and fibre. It also contains enzymes such as papain, particularly in the less-ripe fruit and latex.
Traditional knowledge: Different parts of the papaya plant have long been used as food and within traditional medicine across tropical regions.
Modern Western research: Researchers investigate papain as a protein-digesting enzyme as well as papaya's carotenoids, flavonoids and other plant compounds.
Why we chose it: Fruit nutrition plus a natural enzyme story.
Elderberry
Elderberry is a great example of an old seasonal remedy now being tested with modern methods.
What's inside? The dark colour of black elderberries comes from anthocyanins, alongside other polyphenols, flavonols, phenolic acids, vitamins and minerals.
Traditional knowledge: Elderberry has a long history in European herbal medicine, particularly in preparations used during winter and seasonal illnesses.
Modern Western research: Those traditional uses led researchers to study elderberry in respiratory illnesses. Results have been mixed — which is actually useful to understand. Science isn't about finding one positive study and stopping; it's about seeing whether findings can be repeated.
Why we chose it: Rich berry phytochemistry backed by generations of traditional interest and continuing modern research.
Astragalus
Astragalus is one of the major herbs bridging Traditional Chinese Medicine and modern phytochemistry.
What's inside? Its root contains polysaccharides, saponins, flavonoids and other phytochemicals. Astragalus polysaccharides in particular have attracted substantial research.
Traditional knowledge: Astragalus has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for more than two thousand years, traditionally as a tonic and in preparations associated with resilience, fatigue and seasonal health.
Modern Western research: Researchers investigate astragalus compounds in immune signalling, oxidative stress, inflammatory biology and cellular metabolism.
Why we chose it: One of the clearest examples of an ancient botanical now being pulled apart molecule by molecule by modern science.
Lemon Myrtle
This one matters for another reason — it's Australian.
What's inside? Lemon myrtle is extraordinarily rich in the aromatic compound citral, which gives the leaves their intense lemon aroma.
Traditional knowledge: Lemon myrtle has long been used by Indigenous Australians for both food and traditional healing.
Modern Western research: Researchers have studied lemon-myrtle essential oil and citral for antimicrobial properties and other biological activity. Importantly, concentrated essential oil isn't the same thing as drinking lemon-myrtle leaf in a tea.
Why we chose it: Australian botanical heritage, incredible flavour and fascinating chemistry.
Echinacea
Echinacea didn't begin as a modern supplement.
What's inside? Different Echinacea species contain compounds including alkylamides, polysaccharides and caffeic-acid derivatives, and their concentrations vary depending on the species, root, leaf and extraction method.
Traditional knowledge: Echinacea species are native to North America and have histories of use within Native American medicine.
Modern Western research: Scientists became especially interested in echinacea and immune signalling, which eventually led to numerous commercial preparations and respiratory studies. Results differ partly because “echinacea” can describe very different extracts.
Why we chose it: Traditional knowledge followed by decades of Western investigation — exactly the kind of ingredient story Vitaly-Tea represents.
Nettle
Most people remember nettle because it stings. Nutritionally, there's much more to it.
What's inside? Nettle contains minerals, vitamins, protein and numerous phytochemicals including polyphenols, flavonoids, sterols and carotenoid-type compounds, although composition differs between leaf, root and other plant parts.
Traditional knowledge: Nettle has been used both as food and medicine across European and other traditional systems for centuries.
Cooking or steeping neutralises the famous sting.
Modern Western research: Researchers study nettle in nutrition as well as its phytochemicals and their interaction with inflammatory, metabolic and cardiovascular pathways.
Why we chose it: A surprisingly nutrient-rich plant that sits somewhere between a leafy green and a traditional herb.
Siberian Ginseng
Despite the name, Siberian ginseng isn't true Panax ginseng.
Its botanical name is Eleutherococcus senticosus.
What's inside? It contains characteristic compounds known as eleutherosides, alongside lignans, polysaccharides, flavonoids, saponins and other phytochemicals.
Traditional knowledge: It has long been used in East Asian and Russian Far Eastern medicine and later became associated with the concept of an adaptogen — substances traditionally used to support the body's ability to cope with physical or mental stress.
Western medicine: It became particularly interesting during Soviet-era research into fatigue, stamina and resilience and was officially incorporated into the Soviet pharmacopoeia in 1962.
Why we chose it: Traditional medicine, modern pharmacology and the history of adaptogen research all meet in one plant.
Withania — Ashwagandha
Ashwagandha has become fashionable recently, but the plant itself is anything but new.
What's inside? Its best-known phytochemicals are a group called withanolides, alongside alkaloids and other plant compounds.
Traditional knowledge: Ashwagandha has been used within Ayurveda and other Indian traditional medicine systems for thousands of years, commonly categorised as a restorative or rejuvenating botanical.
Modern Western research: Researchers are now investigating its traditional reputation through studies involving stress physiology, sleep, exercise, cognition and endocrine pathways.
Why we chose it: Few herbs demonstrate the conversation between ancient traditional medicine and modern scientific investigation as clearly as ashwagandha.
Liquorice Root
Liquorice teaches one of the most important lessons in herbal medicine:
Natural ingredients can be genuinely biologically active.
What's inside? Liquorice contains numerous flavonoids and other phytochemicals, but the best known is glycyrrhizin, which is responsible for much of liquorice's characteristic sweetness and biological activity.
Traditional knowledge: Liquorice has centuries of use in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Middle Eastern and European herbal traditions, particularly in preparations associated with digestion, the throat and respiratory system.
Modern Western medicine: Glycyrrhizin and related compounds have been investigated pharmacologically — but modern research has also taught us that excessive or prolonged intake can affect blood pressure and electrolyte-regulating hormones.
That's useful science. It reminds us that more isn't automatically better.
Why we chose it: Flavour, traditional history and genuine plant chemistry — used thoughtfully.
WHY VITALY-TEA?
Vitaly-Tea isn't built around the idea that one herb is going to fix everything.
It's built around knowledge.
Knowledge passed down through cultures that used plants long before modern laboratories existed.
Knowledge from Western nutrition and medicine that can now identify vitamins, minerals, enzymes, polyphenols and individual plant compounds.
And knowledge from modern research that sometimes validates traditional observations, sometimes challenges them, and sometimes tells us we still have more to learn.
That's the part we find interesting.
Traditional knowledge gave us somewhere to look. Modern science helps us understand what might be happening.
And rather than expecting everyone else to spend hours finding and interpreting that research:
We do the digging. We break it down. You decide what you think.